Show DONT BE TOO pessimistic since last fall the country has been going through a period of depression the condition is of course not peculiar to the united states but is worldwide world wide before the depression came so unexpectedly upon us it seemed that economic rules had been changed and that it was impossible for our progress and prosperity to slow up we know better now but now that we have readied reached the bottom of the depression the pessimism which has been created seems as unwarranted as was tt the hi e glittering optimism of a year ago A great many people who thought a year ago that business would never slacken seem to be just as sure now that it has never been so bad as it is and that it will never get better this is of course absurd there have been many worse periods of depression in the country and there are already plenty of signs that we have scraped bottom and are about to climb the hill again dr julius klein assistant secretary of the united states chamber of commerce and a recognized oracle of business is the author of an intensely interesting article in the august issue of the american magazine agazine Al in which he discusses the results of a questionnaire tion sent out to twenty heads of leading financial institutions of this country relative to the probable duration of the present period of depression two thirds of these bankers give as their opinion the prophecy that this october will see sec us well on the way out of it and the other third state that the uphill up hill climb toward normalcy I 1 will begin not later than january 1931 dr klein states that the average slump for the various periods of depression that have been felt in this country has been some thirteen months the bottom began to fall out of things last october and if past experience i can ca n be taken as a criterion I 1 then we should be well out of the bottom scraping period next month in this regard it is interesting 9 to note a statement issued recently by the alexander hamilton institute which says while business for the half year was materially teri ally lower than a year agotha ago the profit levels for 1928 were closely approached returns for the first six months show a drop in income of 28 per cent from last year but profits were less than two per cent below those of 1928 thirteen industrial groups now show net incomes for the half year exceeding their earnings for si six months of 1928 they are beverage and confection confectionery confectioner en y chemicals ic als drugs electrical equipment food products iron and steel oil printing and publishing railway equipment chain restaurant anis miscellaneous cel laneous service companies and inis miscellaneous man u f a c t u r i n g house financing instalment installment sales show profits slightly higher than last year and materially above those of 1928 11 all of which should be highly encouraging to those who now seem unduly pessimistic evidently the country has not gone to the dogs and thele is bound to be some improvement in the n near future when it cornes comes the rebound will be rapid because of the present buyers hesitancy |